Football: Out of the storm

Guyer’s D.J. Breedlove fights for yardage against Amarillo on Saturday during the Class 4A Division I Region I final in Midland. Breedlove rushed for two touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 38-30 win over the Sandies.

Guyer gets past Sandies in regional final

MIDLAND — Entering Saturday’s third-round playoff game
against Amarillo, Guyer coach John Walsh had a small list of things he wanted
to see transpire after the opening kickoff.

He wanted the Wildcats to jump out to a decent lead and keep
it against Amarillo’s ground-and-pound wing-T offense. He wanted his offense to
stay on the field for sustained drives to rest his defense against a Sandies
team that likes to own time of possession.

He was disappointed in the outcome of both, but he was
ecstatic his team was able to survive a game that was not played in its style
and beat Amarillo 38-30 at Grande Communications Stadium.

“I’m really pleased because we won a ballgame that we
certainly didn’t want to be in the fourth quarter with just a one-score lead,”
Walsh said.

That was definitely the case, as Guyer advanced to face
Birdville (13-0) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Southlake’s Dragon Stadium in the Class
4A Division I Region I final.

Guyer’s high-scoring offense that has averaged 42 points —
mostly in quick-strike fashion — in the playoffs was kept off the field, just
as Amarillo coach Mel Maxfield preaches.

The Wildcats (11-2) ran just seven offensive plays in the
first quarter as Amarillo got a field goal out of an 18-play drive that ate
nearly seven minutes off the clock.

Amarillo kicker Mason Edmondson had three field goals on the
day, which was part of the Sandies’ problem. Even though the Wildcats barely
held the ball in the first quarter, they got a touchdown when D.J. Breedlove
opened the game’s scoring with a 14-yard run on a lateral from Jerrod Heard.

The Sandies’ first drive of the second half was the same
way, going 71 yards on 16 plays in 7:10. It ended with another Edmondson field
goal to briefly cut Guyer’s lead to five points near the end of the third
quarter.

That slow, methodical style of play had Guyer’s defensive
players gasping for air at times, and senior middle linebacker Terence Belton
wasn’t afraid to admit it.

“Very gassed,” he said, still breathing hard after the game.
“Long drives down the field. I just told the defense we just had to play and
stay disciplined.

“I don’t even know what they did, really. They just pounded
the ball. Sometimes when we stopped them they still went with the same thing.
They just pounded it down the field.”

Amarillo (10-3) rolled up 217 yards on 48 carries, nearly
100 yards less than its season average. The Sandies were led on the ground by
Josh Woods, who had 91 yards on 22 carries.

The Sandies had 460 total yards to Guyer’s 391.

Where the Sandies gave Guyer fits was in their passing game,
an area where their offense is surprisingly accomplished for their style of
play.

Amarillo quarterback Gabe Rodriguez completed 15 of 24 pass
attempts for 243 yards and three scores, including a late touchdown to Ryan
Sluder to pull the Sandies within eight points with just more than a minute
remaining. Guyer recovered an onside kick attempt to end the threat.

“We expected a few big hits [in the passing game] on us, but
the disappointment for us was they weren’t wide open,” Walsh said. “We have to
look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, if we want to keep advancing, when that
ball’s close to us we have to treat it like it’s our ball too.’ They made the
plays; we didn’t.”

The Sandies’ passing game was especially efficient on third
down, as Amarillo was 7-for-9 on third-down conversions and 3-of-4 on fourth
down.

“It was very frustrating,” Belton said. “We’d hit them for a
loss or a 1-yard gain on first and second down, and on third down they’d throw
the ball and our secondary’s out of position. I was very frustrated with all
the third-down conversions they had.”

But with all that frustration and exhaustion, Belton said he
always had faith in his offense to win the game. Ultimately, that happened,
along with a little help from junior kicker Brad Grems, who kicked a 36-yard
field goal in the fourth quarter for an eight-point lead.

Aside from when Guyer led 7-3 in the first quarter, the
Sandies were never closer than five points. When the Wildcats needed a big
score, they got it.

Jerrod Heard, a junior quarterback who has committed to
Texas, finished with 155 rushing yards and two scores and threw a 43-yard
touchdown to Arizona State pledge Ellis Jefferson, who finished with 104 yards
on three catches.

“He’s a big threat,” Walsh said of Jefferson, whose
statistics haven’t been eye-popping this season due to Guyer’s large leads in
the regular season. “He should have more than three catches, though. If he
didn’t, it’s my fault. He’s been big all playoffs, and he’s going to continue
to be big.”

But with Guyer’s offense, it all came back to Heard, just as
it has all season.

After an Edmondson field goal pulled Amarillo to within
21-16 with 3:48 left in the third quarter, Guyer started at its 21-yard line
looking to get back to a two-score lead.

On the drive’s third play, Heard weaved through Amarillo’s
defense, slipping multiple tackles, for a 42-yard gain to the Sandies’ 24. Five
plays later, Heard punched it into the end zone from three yards out.

“We can call a bunch of plays that we think will work on
that board, but you’d better get No. 2 [Heard] going — running,” Walsh said.
“Whether the blocking scheme works or not, he’s going to make something
happen.”

Even though there was a lot Walsh wasn’t happy about in
Saturday’s performance, particularly his team’s third- and fourth-down defense,
he said he can take solace in the fact that the Wildcats won a game in which
little went their way.

“They [Amarillo] did a great job of executing their game
plan and dictating how that game of possession was going to go,” Walsh said. “They
dictated that they were going to have the ball longer than we were, and they
did it on third- and fourth-down conversions. They do a great job over there.
We knew it wouldn’t be a pushover. We were hoping to get a nice lead and keep
it. It just didn’t work out that way. They fought us back.

“We’re going to be better because of this today. There was
some adversity. You can’t just go through the playoffs without facing some
adversity.”

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